Tag Archives: New York

People are going to suffer due to the rapidly increasing
price of foods and other commodities. No, not American people, and not the
people in any of the more advanced countries. The people that are going
to suffer are those truly poor and downtrodden people in our world; there is
true poverty out there, people that simply do not have the opportunity to make
their lives better.

These people aren’t able to farm their own lands to feed themselves;
they have to deal with the current global commodity situation just as every one
of us does. But sadly these people, these many millions of people, they simply cannot keep
up with these rapidly increasing prices. These are people that live on the
equivalent of one dollar a day, one single dollar each day.

Living on a dollar a day is known as extreme poverty. Just imagine
having the spending power of one single dollar every day and you will easily be
able to see why these people can barely survive; that they do in fact go
hungry, often to the point of starvation. And it is only going to get worse as
the price of commodities continues to rise.

When we hear the politicians and our fellow Americans
complaining about the increase in prices through various forms of media, it’s
them complaining about petty things such as Milk increasing in price and how
outrageous it is. But the fact is that us Americans are not in any danger from
this increase in commodity prices; no, we are going to be just fine. It is the
truly poor in our world that will suffer.

All of us have heard the various reasons given for the
increase in prices: From the recent popularity of bio fuels to global warming
diminishing the harvests. Neither of these is the real reason for the increase
in prices, no matter what the politicians and pundits tell you and want you to
think.

Demand is the main reason behind the increase in commodity
prices. It’s as simple as that. Millions of people in both India and China, as
well as several other emerging countries, are eating a much higher quality diet
than they previously were. This is by no means a bad thing; we should all be very
happy for these people, people that have brought themselves out of poverty through hard
work and determination. It is a great thing.

We can’t blame anyone or single thing. From the
increased demand in countries such as China and India, to bio fuels and global
warming; we can certainly debate which of these things has a larger affect on prices, but that is only going to lead us to continuing the avoidance of
the real issue: That is the truly poor people in the world that are suffering
now, and will continue to suffer as these elements weigh on the prices of
commodities in the future.

Can we do anything about this? I’m sure that we can, yes.
For example, I simply consume less and waste less. There is an incredible
amount of waste in advanced countries; people don’t give it a second thought. I
witness people wasting without care every single day of my life. It’s a
terrible thing.

Knowing that our waste alone could feed millions of truly needy
people is a very sad thing. We’ve all seen the studies, some saying that half
of the food in the United States is actually wasted, never ingested by a human
being at all. The first time that I read that I was shocked, sure; but I knew
that it would be a staggering amount of waste based on what I have seen with my own eyes.

The fact is that less waste and more efficiency here in the
United States would dramatically drop the demand for commodities, and as such,
it would in turn drop the price of food throughout the world. This would allow
more and more people to eat, to eat a better diet, and be healthier in general.

So the next time that you’re in your local supermarket, don’t
complain about the increasing cost of your Eggs and Milk; instead think of the
poor people that are going to go without due to you continuing your wasteful
habits.

I am very pro cycling myself. I have an
extreme dislike for the car culture that we have here in the US in
general. I absolutely feel that if mass public or self transportation
without the use of a motor vehicle is possible, then it should be used
in nearly all cases.

Personally I do not drive currently and I do not even own a car.
Using mass transit and self transportation is environmentally sound and
much more cost effective than operating a motor vehicle of your own.
That’s why I don’t understand the car culture that we have, I don’t
understand how it has spread and is generally accepted everywhere, even
in our large cities.

That’s why I thought that Bloomberg’s tax was a brilliant idea for
NYC. Having actually biked through New York on a regular basis, it’s
not exactly the greatest experience that I’ve ever had, and certainly
not something that I would want to do every morning to get to work. If
there were less vehicles, less congestion and less hostility in general
though, then I would be all for cycling to work most of the time. But
still it isn’t a huge issue as we have a fine public mass transit
system in our subways.

Anyway, I’m hoping that the recent housing issues in the US will
make more and more people come to the cities, which should lead to less
reliability on vehicles for people in general if they have a quality
system for public transportation in place.

I have other huge issues with suburban sprawl and the whole suburban
culture here in the US as well, a different topic, I know; but it has
to be stated as it undoubtedly plays a key role in the want and need
for motor vehicles by many Americans. If we didn’t live 20 miles away
from where we go to school and work, then there would be much less of
an issue and the car culture in the US would simply dissolve. It is
honestly ridiculous to live so far away from the places that you need
to go on a regular basis when you could just as easily live in the
city, much closer to the places that you need to go.

Both are huge issues that people need to get over in my opinion. You
don’t need an acre or two of land surrounding your home, really. There
is absolutely no need for that, it’s wasteful and harmful to all of us
in the long run. Living in the city is a much better option. Hopefully
more and more people in our future generations realize this and stop
moving into and building new unnecessary suburbs.